Mermaid Beach flood map & planning overlays
A planning-constraint profile of Mermaid Beach
(Gold Coast City, QLD) - 1.49 km², mapped from live council and
state overlay data. This suburb is moderately constrained.
Profile updated 19 September 2026.
Suburb-wide figures; the free map shows which overlays touch your lot.
Constraint readout
1.49 km² - this suburb is moderately constrained by planning overlays.
Elevation hillshade with street names, clipped to Mermaid Beach's boundary, with the flood, bushfire and environmental overlays drawn on top.
Nearby suburbs, nearest first
How common is mapped flood risk across Mermaid Beach properties?
Overlay percentages say how much land is constrained; these figures say how many properties are actually touched in a suburb-wide analysis of 5,610 Mermaid Beach properties. No individual property result is identified on this page.
Lot-level readout
Flood-risk rating across all 5,610 properties
From LayeredGeo's lot-risk engine: council flood overlays, historical flooding and terrain, resolved to each individual lot in Mermaid Beach.
Mermaid Beach at a glance
Schools in and near Mermaid Beach
Public school-location data shows availability across the suburb. These figures do not rate schools and do not assign a particular address to a catchment.
Inside the suburb boundary
0 schools providing primary years and 0 providing secondary years. A combined school may be counted in both teaching levels.
Nearest school availability
Primary: 0.01 km from the suburb boundary
Secondary: 0.29 km from the suburb boundary
Source: Queensland Government school geographic information. Catchment boundaries can divide a suburb and change over time; use the official catchment finder for a specific address.
How Mermaid Beach is zoned
Selling in Mermaid Beach? The lot-level zone is the zoning Part 3 of Queensland's Form 2 seller disclosure statement asks for - see our Form 2 planning data guide.
Across its 1.49 km², Mermaid Beach is moderately constrained by planning overlays. About 17% of the suburb sits within a mapped flood overlay. The dominant land-use zone is Medium density residential. The terrain is largely flat, and the median lot measures about 438 m² across 5,917 parcels.
Recent development applications in Mermaid Beach
Applications are counted across the whole gazetted suburb from the public City of Gold Coast register. No application address or individual property is published here.
Submitted in the past 12 months
Latest included submission: 16 September 2026.
Previous 12 months: 61 (36% higher in the latest period).
Common application types
- Material change of use: 25
Counts depend on applications that the council publishes and that can be assigned to a suburb. Categories can overlap when one application covers several types. Totals below five and their latest dates are suppressed. Register last synchronised 19 September 2026. Check the official council register.
Who lives in Mermaid Beach
Census 2021 figures published by the ABS for the Mermaid Beach suburb boundary itself, not a wider region.
Socio-economic standing
ABS SEIFA 2021 ranks every Australian suburb. Decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth of the country, decile 10 the least.
Score 1063, and decile 10 within Queensland. The national average is 1000.
Age profile
Share of Mermaid Beach's 7,329 residents in each ABS age band.
Population trend, 2001 to 2025
Estimated resident population of Mermaid Beach - Broadbeach, the wider ABS statistical area containing Mermaid Beach. There is no annual population series published at suburb level, so this describes the surrounding area rather than Mermaid Beach itself.
9,107 in 2001 to 16,126 in 2025, up 77%.
Source: ABS Census 2021 and SEIFA 2021 (Suburbs and Localities), Regional Population (SA2), CC BY 4.0. Small counts are randomly adjusted by the ABS.
Mermaid Beach data sources and coverage
“Not mapped” means we hold no source layer for this suburb - never an all-clear.
| Dataset | Coverage | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Flood mapping | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Bushfire-prone mapping | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Zoning | Mapped | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Heritage and environment | Mapped where published | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data |
| Aircraft noise contours (ANEF) | Not held | the relevant council planning scheme and Queensland Government spatial data, Defence |
| Demographics | Available | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021 Census and SEIFA) |
| School availability | Available | Queensland Government |
| Development applications | Available as suburb totals | City of Gold Coast |
Profile last materially updated 19 September 2026. See the methodology and full source list. Source data changes over time and critical decisions should be checked with the responsible authority.
Check a specific Mermaid Beach address
See exactly which overlays touch a single property - the interactive map is free. Need it on paper? A full planning PDF is just $9.
Published flood models are held over parts of Mermaid Beach. The free check tells you whether one reaches an address; where it does, a Flood Model Report is +$9 with the planning report.
The Terrain Report shows the fall of the block - contours, cross sections and a 3D model of the lot (+$9 with the planning report).
Building or pricing a slab? The $119 geotechnical desktop report covers geology, soils, bores and an indicative AS 2870 site class for a Mermaid Beach lot.
See what's in the $9 report →Mermaid Beach planning - frequently asked
Is Mermaid Beach flood-prone?
About 17% of Mermaid Beach falls within a mapped flood overlay, against the council-wide suburb average of 38%. Across the suburb, 99% of the 5,610 properties we analysed carry some level of mapped flood risk, including 4430 rated high risk or historically affected.
Is Mermaid Beach bushfire-prone?
Bushfire mapping covers Mermaid Beach and little to none of it is mapped as bushfire-prone (the Gold Coast City average is 50%).
What is the zoning in Mermaid Beach?
The dominant planning zone in Mermaid Beach is Medium density residential, though the suburb also includes Mixed use and High density residential.
Does Mermaid Beach have heritage-listed places?
No heritage-listed places are on record within Mermaid Beach.
Is Mermaid Beach hilly or flat?
Mermaid Beach is largely flat: the median ground slope is about 2%. Ground level runs from roughly 3 m to 7 m AHD across the suburb.
What is the typical lot size in Mermaid Beach?
Across 5,917 surveyed parcels in Mermaid Beach, the median lot size is about 438 m². There are also 109 registered easements mapped in the suburb.
Does Mermaid Beach have a train station?
There is no train station inside Mermaid Beach itself. The suburb is served by 13 bus stops.
What is the population of Mermaid Beach?
At the 2021 Census Mermaid Beach had 7,329 usual residents, with a median age of 35 and an average household size of 2.1 people. The wider Mermaid Beach - Broadbeach statistical area, which contains Mermaid Beach, went from 9,107 people in 2001 to 16,126 in 2025, up 77%.
Is Mermaid Beach an advantaged suburb?
On the ABS SEIFA 2021 index of relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage (IRSAD), Mermaid Beach scores 1063 and sits in decile 9 of 10 nationally and decile 10 within Queensland (decile 1 is the most disadvantaged tenth, decile 10 the least).
What is the median household income in Mermaid Beach?
Median household income in Mermaid Beach was $1,895 a week at the 2021 Census, against $1,830 for the typical suburb in Gold Coast City. Median rent was $460 a week and the median mortgage repayment $1,820 a month.
Compare nearby suburbs
| Nearby suburb | Distance | Flood mapped | Bushfire-prone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mermaid Waters | 1.5 km | 97% | 5% |
| Broadbeach | 2.3 km | 32% | 0% |
| Miami | 2.3 km | 24% | 21% |
| Broadbeach Waters | 3.0 km | 100% | 10% |
| Clear Island Waters | 3.9 km | 96% | 8% |
| Burleigh Waters | 4.1 km | 70% | 11% |
| Bundall | 5.0 km | 92% | 4% |
| Varsity Lakes | 5.0 km | 56% | 12% |
| Robina | 5.1 km | 42% | 6% |
| Surfers Paradise | 5.7 km | 80% | 1% |